ANTH 1150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Pastoral Farming, Transhumance, Pastoralism
2 Dec 2012
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Document Summary
No one wants to work harder for less food. The law of the minimum: people tend to adapt to the worst conditions. Pastoralism: based on the domestication and consumption of animals. Many people can use foraging in times of hardship. How is foraging a sustainable adaption to marginal environments. Carrying capacity: refers to the upper limit on production and population in a given environment using particular technologies without degrading the resources. The point of diminishing returns: the point at which the amount of food produced/unit of energy invested begins to fall. Optimal foraging strategy (theory): foragers will pursue only those species that will give the maximum energy return for the amount of time spent foraging. Transhumance: moving herds back and forth between valley pastures and mountain pastures. Nomadic pastoralism: people who moved herds to any available pasture, can cover vast distances and routes are not fixed, more flexibility in where they go.
